The Odisha government finally announced the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission. This announcement made by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik came as a major relief for the state government employees who have waited long for the good news. This announcement would benefit over 4.5 lakh state government employees and 3.5 lakh pensioners.

Announcement of good news

The Chief Minister in an official statement said, my government has decided to implement the recommendations of the committee constituted for examination of 7th Central Pay Commission report and its adoption for State government employees. About 4.5 lakh serving State government employees and about 3.5 lakh retired State government employees will get enhanced emoluments and higher pension respectively.

Additional burden

The implementation would put an additional burden of Rs 4,500 crore on the state exchequer. If the State government follows the Central government pattern for implementing the hike, the overall salary will increase by 23 per cent

What about arrears

Sources say that the government is working out on the arrears to be given to the employees and pensioners for 20 months. The period would be between January 2016 and August 2017. The arrears would come up to around Rs 9,000 crore.

In line with the centre’s 7th Pay Commission

The details of the revised pay matrix would be announced soon. The state is however contemplating implementing the same in line with the centre’s implementation of the 7th Pay Commission. This would mean that there would be a 14.5 per cent increase in the basic pay of each employee and the overall salary hike would be at 23 per cent.